An old lady dies alone and unheeded in a cold Edinburgh flat, on a snowy Christmas night. A faded emerald dress hangs in her wardrobe; a spilt glass of whisky pools on the carpet. A few days later a middle-aged woman arrives back to the city of her birth, her future uncertain, her past in tatters. But what Margaret Penny cannot yet know is that in investigating the death of one friendless old lady, her own life will become enriched beyond measure.

Mary’s debut is an exceptional work that spans decades and weaves two stories together. Tragedy, loss, children, isolation, family – this is one that will draw you in as you join Margaret Penny’s journey to discover, just who was Mrs Walker?

The Danék is a wild, treacherous river, and the Fobisher family has tended it for generations—clearing it of ice and weed, making sure boats can get through, and fishing corpses from its bleak depths. Wulliam’s father, the current Riverkeep, is proud of this work. Wull dreads it. And in one week, when he comes of age, he will have to take over.

Not too keen to take over as it is, Wull’s father is pulled under and emerges possessed, no longer himself, and the role of Riverkeep is thrust upon him. He meets a few people along the way to find the cure, and learns a lot about himself, including finding a courage he didn’t know he had. Stewart’s world is vivid, magical, and full of creatures that make his creation that little bit weirder and unique, and Riverkeep is at times engrossing and at others heartbreaking.

Róisín and François first meet in the snowy white expanse of Antarctica. And everything changes. While Róisín grew up in a tiny village in Ireland, ablaze with a passion for science and the skies and for all there is to discover about the world, François was raised by his beautiful young mother, who dreamt of new worlds but was unable to turn her back on her past.

A lifetime feels a long time, but it’s barely a blink of an eye to a comet. Dipping through the past of the characters and their families only when a comet is in the sky, this encompasses a thousand years in a few hundred pages in a story in which the sky is home, it’s adventure, family and a new start – everything and nothing.